Moebius 1/55 Moon Bus

When 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in theaters in 1968, it was a huge hit. The main reasons for this was not only the great cinematography and special effects (remember that this was before computer design) but also for the much more accurate depiction of the physics of motion. No swooping starships spitting flame and laser beams, but the much more slow motion of actual space travel.

The film featured a number of vehicles in various scenes starting with the Orion spaceliner and moving to the much larger Discovery interplanetary space craft. One of the vehicles that had a fairly long time on the screen was the Moon Bus which carried the people to the monolith that was buried in the Tycho crater.

On a personal note, even though I saw the movie several times, including on the Cinerama screen, I never totally understood what was going on in the last scenes of the movie until I read Arthur C Clarke's book. 

According to Scalemates, this kit was tooled in the popular 1/55 scale. Why they did not just go for 1/48 is unknown, but it probably had something to do with fitting the parts in the box. Regardless, one is greeted (Hello) with a mass of white plastic with a color sprue and a small decal sheet. There are no options.

What you get is a lower hull, some braces for the interior, a fair number of interior console looking items and a fairly basic cockpit that consists of seats. There are also forward facing seats for the cabin and one needs to also install the rear bulkhead with separate door along with the rest of the forward part of the bus. While you can fit the forward windows at this time, you might want to prepaint the areas that accept them or mask them off once they are installed.

One of the more complex constructs are the landing legs with each one consisting of eleven parts. There are three of these to build. One then goes on to fill up the interior with a fiew more bulkheads along with the provided figures. There are side sections that has five glass windows per side. There is also a side entrance hatch. A separate roof is provided and it is so designed at to be able to remove it to show off the interior.

Instructions are fairly well drawn with two construction steps that are basically exploded views. There is a written construction sequence which should prove helpful. All color information is generic. The vehicle is basically white exterior with a grey interior. Note that during the time that 2001 was filmed, the lights were very bright so most 'white' items were actually a medium to dark grey so that detail was not lost. There are a few logo decals included.

I have had this kit unopened for the last 15 years. By all accounts, it is not an easy build, but if you take your time and can get past the rather unusual scale, it should make into a very nicely done model.

February 2026

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